To Light a Lantern
by Sanathia
Summary: Daniel fell prey to the merciless motivation of Alexander just like everyone else did; however, he was bound to escape. There's more than one option for retribution. Slightly alternate universe. Not slash.


_**Disclaimer: It's ridiculous that I have to say this. Obviously I don't own the characters. Nevertheless, all characters within the story below belong to Amnesia: The Dark Descent and thus Frictional Games as a whole. I never claimed to own them, so don't sue me.**_

_**Warning: Violence and gore, various forms of torture. Also, dubcon M/M slash and alcohol references. Rated M.**_

_**Note: This story bears the same name as the one I recently deleted, but bears absolutely NO relation. I just had a better idea and wasn't too impressed by the previous form of this story.**_

His pale, sallow hand hovered over the naked man's body confidently, dagger clutched tightly within his thin fingers. The blade, though sharp and thin, was short and stumpy. The handle in which Daniel clung so desperately to began slipping as the two men deliberated where to cut the man. The man beneath them was bound and gagged, his brow furrowed in fear, sweating buckets. He seemed to be a fit man, healthy and strong, but Alexander assured Daniel that this man was a rapist; he'd disturbed the town for weeks before the baron's helpful servants were able to catch the notorious man.

"Shall we begin?" Daniel asked quietly, lowering the blade just under the man's collarbone. Alexander nodded and ungagged him – surprisingly, no pleas of innocence befell his lips, only prayers to an unknown god. "I doubt God will hear _your_ prayers," Daniel sneered, the dagger piercing several layers of skin. He tugged the blade down the middle of his ribcage, but the man didn't cry out. Pausing for a moment, Daniel turned his dagger ninety degrees and sliced under the rapist's left breast, thus creating an L.

"Cry out!" cackled the baron in his weathered voice. "The pain, it must be unbearable. Scream, damn you, _scream!"_

The man merely gritted his teeth silently. A large blue vein in his forehead throbbed with pain.

"Don't worry, Criminal, we have many other ways to make you cry," Daniel assured him, bringing the blade under his right breast to create an upside-down T. Vivid tears of crimson spilled from the wounds, tracing down off every side of the man's dwindling body. Still the man didn't scream, just grimaced and squeezed his eyes together.

Daniel turned his back to clean the dagger briefly, then turned with a vengeance. "No criminal such as yourself will escape me without squeals!" Grinning madly, he brought the butt of his dagger down on the rapist's exposed sternum. As it broke, so did the man's courage; he cried out and screamed with every part of him. Daniel smiled gently and stroked his hair lovingly.

"Good boy," Alexander murmured, producing a thick clear vial. "We're nearly done, Daniel. Allow me just a few moments to prepare."

As Alexander strode off, the man's cries continued. "I am innocent of the crimes you punish me for!"

Daniel smiled. "Oh, really?"

"You will burn in Hell for these sins!" threatened the dying man, spitting blood.

"I am merely the incarnation of your punishment. I serve retribution to the women you violated, justice to the truly innocent. You disgust me." Daniel leaned forward and licked the seeping blood from his wounds. "Perhaps God will spare you His wrath and say mine will suffice. Pray for that, Criminal."

Alexander returned with two vials and a spreader. He quickly cut ragged lines across the top of the rapist's breast, then inserted the prongs of his spreader in the space where the sternum once occupied. "Care to do the honors," he offered with a smirk to his guest.

"With pleasure," Daniel responded, wrapping his hand around the lever.

"Gott…sparen meine seele…" murmured the man beneath them in husky German. Daniel clutched at the lever and pulled, the rapist's ribcage flying open in opposite directions, revealing all of his internal organs. Blood splattered on their clothes, their faces, and even the wall behind them.

Daniel turned around, not wanting to see the method in which Alexander sucked the vitae from the corpse. Perhaps through his mouth, perhaps through his hands. Whatever the case, he had no desire to find out what made a lifeless body squirm as it did when the baron was taking vitae from it.

[]

His skin was ashen and pallid, a sickly contrast to his once translucent tanned skin – months away from Algeria in the cold depths of Brennenburg had taken a toll on Daniel's beauty. Alexander noticed blood and grime caked under his long fingernails, another recent development that opposed the young guest's appearance he'd discovered months prior. Madness was beginning to take effect, that much was certain.

And yet…Alexander couldn't help but enjoy watching this new side of Daniel; the mad glint in his shining green eyes as he slammed the butt of his dagger into the innocent's weak sternum was simply marvelous for him to behold. Even though Daniel still shied away as the baron extracted the vitae, he knew it wouldn't be long before his young guest was sapping up blood and doing the rituals completely solo. Alexander wouldn't even have to lift a finger!

For some reason, he occasionally felt erroneous by stealing the virtue of his friend. Nevertheless, his world would come before the whims of a desperate young man without a care in his loathsome life. Daniel, though the epitome of asset at one point in his life, had been corrupted just as he'd suspected; humans are all the same.

"Daniel," he cooed, walking out of storage into the back hall. His guest's room and study was just above him on a semi-balcony. Alexander walked slowly up the grand staircase and rapped lightly at the door to one of the many drawing rooms in his castle.

"Come in," came a murmuring voice. Alexander wasted no time and marched up behind his young guest, who calmly sipped at a small cup of tea. "I assume you're here to complete the day's ritual?"

Alexander hesitated. "Originally, yes. But as of now, I need your help with a more puzzling matter. Come now, we mustn't waste time."

Daniel followed close behind. "Where are we going? Why must I go with you?"

Alexander rolled his eyes. Despite the madness, Daniel had retained his annoying ability to ask every possible question there was to ask. "All in good time, my friend. I'd like you to…assist me in preparing the vitae." The baron watched his guest pale.

"P-prepare the vitae?" Daniel asked with a quivering voice. "But you usually do that alone in the laboratory…"

_"Usually," _Alexander repeated with a grin. "However, tonight is special. I have need of an ingredient for our ritual tonight."

"Will it involve more murder?" asked Daniel timidly, wringing his hands as they continued walking.

"None in the slightest." Alexander continued holding his happy grin, leading Daniel further into the castle.

"I don't believe I'm aware of this area," Daniel mumbled after a few minutes of silence. Light gave way to darkness, walls went from a dull brown to black. Hysterically, the young man struck a match against the wall and began burning his lantern; Alexander rolled his eyes, as he could see perfectly in the dim abyss.

"This _is_ my laboratory," Alexander lied after another moment of silence. "You've been here before." He pushed open the door and shaded the glamour of Daniel's eyes to make him believe he was staring into a lighted, familiar room. Alexander worked quickly with the Kaernk, hoping the grotesque sounds wouldn't awaken the boy's senses. He breathed softly and asked Daniel to do what he'd brought him in to do – retrieve the Kaernk's saliva from the bone. Though he wasn't aged too progressively in his own world, the effects of using an elderly human body took its toll. He knew he wouldn't be able to reach down far enough and nimbly retract his hand back in time. Luckily, Daniel was young and quick enough to grab the bone before losing his fingers.

Alexander took another deep breath and brushed his mental limb across Daniel's mind. He searched mostly for the sight division, but couldn't help being distracted towards the memory sector. Currently, the boy was reliving being kicked in the stomach by his father for no apparent reason. The baron winced, then found his way towards the sight processing core and tweaked the glamour slightly; now the boy would see a slight hole in the floor where the Kaernk was residing, but not the monster. "Come, Daniel."

"Yes, Alexander?"

"There is a bone at the base of this hole that I cannot reach. Retrieve it as quickly as possible, and let not your fingers…loiter."

Daniel swiftly plucked the bone out of the hole and handed it to his host. He wiped the thick layer of mucus off on his brown vest, hoping it wasn't anything _too _disgusting.

[]

It was the moment Daniel had been dreading all evening; Alexander was going to conclude the ritual by branding him. The baron claimed that he was already identified by the Shadow, but Alexander's own branding was capable of overcoming the Shadow's power and deterring him. Frightened, Daniel would lay on his stomach every few days and let his host mark him.

"Lay down, my boy," Alexander commanded, pointing towards the bed. Daniel sighed and removed his shirt, vest, and boots, his bare back exposed to the baron. He had a strange symbol etched on his back, pressed into his skin by Alexander's own blade. As usual, the baron quickly straddled Daniel's lower and began his work.

"Please be gentle," the boy whimpered. Alexander traced his spine lightly with his finger and made a strange sound, then raked his fingernails over the scabs that had formed over the brand. Daniel screamed, just as he did every time it'd been done over and over. He waited for Alexander to begin the truly painful part.

"Guardian of the Orb, with this consecrated blade I renounce your taint on Daniel of Mayfair!" Alexander held his dagger high into the air, then brought it down on Daniel's back, retracing the scrapes from before. Though the guest couldn't tell what it was, he knew it was some sort of ancient rune known only to the chosen – like Alexander – who'd understood things in a different sort of light. The runes were magical and protective.

"Surrender your hold on this boy, for he is no longer yours!" Daniel heard himself scream again as Alexander cut deeper into the flesh. The Shadow's moans could be heard as the ritual progressed.

"Daniel of Mayfair, who is your master?"

"Baron Alexander of Brennenburg," Daniel murmured meekly.

"Do you forsake the hold the Shadow has on you?"

"To the best of my ability."

"And will you accept my mark as a branding?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then let your stain be no more!" Alexander cried out, licking the blood from Daniel's back. After a final groan from the Shadow, the strange sounds stopped and the castle was safe again. The weight was lifted from his back as Alexander departed from the room. Daniel rolled over and winced at the pain on his back, the wounds digging deep into his flesh. He sighed again, knowing that within the week, the same ritual would be repeated twice. Such a life was his, and thankfully his alone.


End file.
